Domestic violence is a global phenomenon, but it takes on specific modalities in different
cultural and geo-political settings. Drawing on evidence from the Northern Irish case, this
article is concerned with exploring the relationship between domestic violence and the
international and national sociopolitical context which domestic violence is perpetrated in
and responded to. The Northern Irish case reveals a high level of political, religious and
ethnic contestation at a societal level, a patriarchal social structure and conservative …